These vivid novellas show Shena Mackay's inimitable skill in recording the lives of the urban dispossessed - the young women and men who kick against authority. Abigail pines for her lover during school assemblies where nuns preach sacrifice, but romance is snatched from them when he crashes the car stolen for their joy ride. With Eugene sent down for two years, she has ample opportunity to pursue adolescent angst and to contemplate his escape. Morris, 23 years old and only three feet nine inches tall, is often mistaken for a child, though the events that entangle him are far from childish. On the run from the law, he takes refuge in a beach hut with Leda. Camouflaged by donkey rides and festive holidaymakers, they scramble through the days, fortified by salty tea, beset with fear and desperation.